The Chargers are going to clean it up. The Chargers are going to clean it up. Hey, Norv, that record is broken. Put on the flip side — or turn it off. I’m tired of hearing it.

Just how do you clean up dumb? Where’s the switch for smart?

Once again, the Chargers are going to do this late-summer cleaning, you know, just as they were going to last year, when they were Stooges-stupid. They are going to eliminate their dumb, by gum, if it’s the last thing they do — and at the rate they’re going, many of them may not get that chance.

What are they to do, bring in dozens of psychological custodians? Hire Nobel laureates to tutor them? Call FEMA? Dr. Phil?

If you weren’t convinced before, then you knew following their 35-21 loss Sunday at New England. When they play an NFL team at least as good as they are (the Patriots’ roster certainly is no more skilled than theirs, unless you take in Wonderlic scores), they get beat because they’re overwhelmed with painful bouts of brain flatulence.

I don’t care who the head coach is. I don’t care if it’s Norv Turner, Tina Turner, Ted Turner, Marty Schottenheimer, Marty Caswell or Lex Luthor. The Chargers are never, ever, going to the Super Bowl until the whole lot of them wise up and just play their game, do what they’re supposed to do and quit trying to be something they’re not.

Four turnovers in Foxborough.

OK, eliminate the last one, when quarterback Philip Rivers was stripped from behind. It was meaningless.

The interception of Rivers’ swing pass to tailback Mike Tolbert by enormous nose tackle Vince Wilfork, who did a Patton, swinging away from one battle to head for Bastogne, was almost impossible. “It was a fluke play,” head coach (Norv) Turner said.

Dumb came after that, when Chargers corner Antoine Cason didn’t cover the sideline and allowed two quick completions in eight seconds and the Pats kicked a field goal as the first half expired to go up 20-7. Gift three points.

In the third quarter, Rivers was off-balance and tried to get the ball to tight end Antonio Gates, who was shut out for the day (which wasn’t necessarily a bad thing, by the way). It was picked by Sergio Brown inside the 10. No need to force it there.

“I wish I had that one back,” Rivers said.

That’s four interceptions in two games for Philip, not like him. How to fix it?

“You don’t throw it to ’em,” he said. “It’s that simple. I don’t throw it to ’em very often.”

He doesn’t. Nor does 243-pound tailback Tolbert try be Gale Sayers, but he did, just once, and it was costly.

After Pats genius Bill Belichick made the huge blunder of going for it on fourth-and-4 near midfield and failing (I don’t care if his punter was hurt; there must be 46 players on a team that can pooch punt), Tolbert, his team now trailing 20-14, took the handoff on a second-and-5 at the Pats’ 34 and headed forward, where there was a little room. He stopped, backed up, and linebacker Jerod Mayo forced the turnover.